MERCHANT TAKES CHARMING BRIDE

Summary

Marriage announcement: **Charles H. Gallagher** — "prominent Butte merchant," owner of the Gallagher Grocery and Wiz-Way Stores, "in Butte for 20 years," born **County Mayo, Ireland** ("came to Butte when 10 years old" → c.1885) — married **Miss Laura T. Kelly**, "popular member of the Lincoln school teaching staff," on Saturday 29 December 1923, "surprising his bachelor friends." Ceremony at **Immaculate Conception church**, Butte, by the **Rev. J. M. Nolan, a relative of the groom**. Attendants: **Miss Isabelle Kelly** (sister of the bride) and **John J. Burke**. Bride in lavender georgette; bridesmaid in canton with rose hat. Couple departed immediately for **Los Angeles** for a month-long honeymoon. Mrs. Gallagher "has hosts of friends in Butte having lived here practically since childhood, when she arrived from **Virginia City, Nev.**" Mr. Gallagher is "a director of the Montana Retail Merchants' association and has taken a prominent part in business affairs of the city." Companion piece to the 1964 obit which records this marriage at "December, 1923" (no day) — this clipping fixes the date at Sat 29 Dec 1923 ("yesterday" in the Sun 30 Dec paper). Date-of-arrival cross-check: this 1923 piece gives "came to Butte when 10 years old" (= c.1885 if born ~1875), while the 1964 obit gives "came to Butte in 1893." Discrepancy of 6-8 years; the 1923 reading (closer to the events) is plausibly more accurate.

People

• Charles H. Gallagher (b. c.1875 Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland; d. 28 Aug 1964 Butte, age 89; founder of Wiz-Way Stores; AOH state president)(as printed: Charles H. Gallagher)
  role: groom · family confidence: 0 not family

Also mentioned

• Miss Laura T. Kelly · bride

  Lincoln-school teacher, Butte; from a pioneer Virginia City Nev. + Butte family; lived in Butte since childhood. Sister of Miss Isabelle Kelly (bridesmaid). Becomes Mrs. Charles H. Gallagher. Not family; not the family Kelly line (this is a Virginia-City-NV Kelly, not the Walkerville/Chatham Kellys).

• Miss Isabelle Kelly · bridesmaid

  Bride's sister. Not family. NB — NOT to be confused with Isabel Kelley (principal of Grant School, Halloween-honor- parade co-founder with Gallagher per the 1964 obit).

• John J. Burke · groomsman

  Best-man / groomsman. Not yet identified beyond this role.

• Rev. J. M. Nolan · officiant

  Officiant at the marriage; "a relative of the groom." Mayo connection (since Gallagher is Mayo); a route into the Gallagher family tree if pursued.

Places

• Butte, Montana (primary)
• Los Angeles, California (secondary)
• Ireland (origin)
• Virginia City, Montana (context)

Themes

• marriage
• irish_american_community
• butte_economic_life

Story threads

• Butte Irish-American organisational life — Hibernians, Gaelic League, Erin's Daughters, RELA

Tags

• evidence_primary
• book_chapter_material

Source type

marriage_announcement

Related sources

• 1964-08-29 — The Montana Standard, p.1 — Charles Gallagher, Who Pioneered Grocery Idea, Dies
• 1908-10-24 — The Butte Miner, p.14 — Wedding Bells.

Open questions

• Virginia City, Nevada is not in vocab/places.yaml; only the Montana Virginia City is. The bride Laura T. Kelly is explicitly from the Nevada one. Add place_virginia_city_nv when convenient and re-point this clipping.
• "Rev. J. M. Nolan, a relative of the groom" — would be the Mayo-Gallagher connection worth chasing if Gallagher's ancestry becomes book-relevant.